Breast-Cancer: The Environment in Which You Grow Before Born Matters

Raquel Santana da Cruz

Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, USA

Dr. Raquel Santana da Cruz, Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, USA.

Keywords: Breast Cancer; Somatic Mutations

Abstract

Breast cancer is a global public health problem [1]. It is the most common cancer in American women, being the second leading cause of cancer-related death in this group. Strategies to reduce breast cancer risk should become a major priority since this could substantially reduce death numbers, treatment cost along with providing quality health benefits [2].
The breast cancer risk development can be acquired through germline mutation. Somatic mutations cause approximately 80% of all breast cancer [3]. Recently, their growing field research has proposed that the risk of developing breast cancer may have a fetal origin, namely, that exposure to a variety of environmental chemicals such as, some pesticides during critical periods of development can influence the epigenome - the non-coding alterations that affect DNA and thus influence gene expression - which might programming the cells and tissues to metabolic dysfunction and/or breast cancer development across their lifespan [4].

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